Novo Nordisk

Name:

Novo Nordisk

Founded:

1923

Novo Nordisk is one of the world leaders in the diabetes care industry. With a strong UK diabetes market presence, Novo Nordisk offer a full range of diabetes products, including insulin and insulin delivery devices.

Novo also concentrate on diabetes discovery and development, and frequently feature in breaking news about diabetes.

The global headquarters of Novo Nordisk are in Bagsvaerd in Denmark, but in the UK they are located in Crawley, West Sussex.

Novo have 266 UK employees, and their major focus is on diabetes care.

Novo Nordisk and diabetes care

The diabetes company itself is over 80 years old. Started by a Danish couple, one of whom suffered from type 2 diabetes, the company was early in introducing bovine insulin into Europe.

The company diversified into Nordisk and Novo.

Nordisk became the largest global producer of industrial enzymes, whilst Nordisk specialised in developing drugs.

In 1989, the company became Novo Nordisk and combined their efforts in treating diabetes. However, in 1999 the company demerged again and Novo Nordisk and Novozymes are two separate entities.
Their first product for diabetes, Lente, was launched in 1953 and was a long-acting insulin zinc suppression.

This has then followed on with:

Levemir - This is a long-acting insulin for injection, used to treat adults patients with diabetes to control blood sugar levels.

NovoLog/NovoRapid - Fast acting insulin for injection.

NovoMix - One of their biggest drugs in production and is a mix of 70% insulin aspart protamine suspension and 30% insulin aspart for injection.

Victoza - This is a particular treatment for people with type 2 diabetes in order to prevent hypoglycemia.

Unite for Diabetes campaign

The company has also been a huge supporter for the International Diabetes Federation’s Unite for Diabetes campaign that helped make November 14 every year, World Diabetes Day.

Furthermore, they have launched the Novo Nordisk Changing Diabetes World Tour, which involves a truck that contains an information centre. The truck then visits various countries to raise awareness of diabetes and provide advice. So far they have been to Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia.

Other areas of healthcare

They also do marketing for other sectors such as haemostasis management, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy with the help of approximately 31,300 employees across 74 countries.

They are now a member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and currently ranked as the 25th best company to work for out of 100 countries in 2010.